Video on memory card showing man brutally assaulting and killing naked woman in Alaska hotel room leads to his arrest
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA: A memory card found on the streets of Anchorage led to the arrest of a man after it contained a video allegedly showing him brutally assaulting and killing a naked woman in an Alaska hotel room.
Brian Steven Smith was arraigned before a judge on Wednesday, October 9, afternoon after his arrest at the Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage on Tuesday. Police believe the 48-year-old recorded the disturbing footage himself.
According to the Anchorage Daily News, the video and images found on the memory drive show the victim being ruthlessly beaten on the floor of the TownePlace Suites by Marriott as she desperately tries to fight back.
Meanwhile, police said they were familiar with Smith and had recognized him from another investigation, the details of which were not released. The woman is allegedly seen in the footage being strangled to death before being wrapped in a white sheet and taken out through the parking lot.
Smith and his wife are said to share a truck that matches the one in the footage, and it was reportedly registered to the hotel on the tragic evening. Furthermore, authorities triangulated his cellphone records and found it was nearby where the woman's body was found, according to the affidavit.
According to Anchorage police, a caller found the memory card on a city street last week and reported it to them.
Authorities believe the murder took place in early September, and that the human remains found earlier this month alongside a highway are those of the victim in the video.
Police are now working to formally identify the woman and determine the cause and manner of her death. "Through the course of the investigation, detectives determined the crime took place in Anchorage during the first week of September," police said in a statement.
"They identified 48-year-old Brian Steven Smith as the suspect and believe the human remains are of the adult female in the video." Smith had been on a flight returning to Anchorage, police spokesman MJ Thim said, adding he did not know where the flight had originated.
According to Thim, Smith lives in Anchorage but is originally from South Africa. "With the SD card, one of the big questions was trying to determine whether or not this was a staged event," he explained.
"We quickly ruled that out and then started to piece together from the video, from the visual aspects for the images, and also the audio, we were able to quickly determine where this took place and we were starting to put together the timeline."